ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220024
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BASSETT
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
Sluggish consumer demand and pressure from imports hounded the furniture industry in 1995, but Bassett Furniture Industries Inc.'s chairman and CEO said he anticipates a recovery this year.
"From an operations viewpoint, 1995 was a very unsatisfactory year," Robert Spilman told Bassett stockholders Wednesday. The company's shipments, or sales, were down 4 percent from 1994, he said, and earnings per share dropped 4.7 percent.
"Retail in general is weak," he said, "with the possible exception of the higher end of the market." But he predicted stronger third and fourth quarters, as interest rates continue to drop and consumers emerge from their spending freeze.
The company also has been feeling pressure from furniture importers, who often are able to undercut prices charged by companies such as Bassett, Spilman said. Bassett has responded by upgrading the quality and prices of some of its inventory, particularly products from its table manufacturing division.
The company plans to expand both its Bassett Direct Plus and Bassett Gallery programs in 1996, Spilman said. Bassett currently operates 10 Direct Plus stores, 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot stores that sell only Bassett products. Another 14 of those stores are planned for 1996. The company also has placed Bassett galleries within 178 furniture stores.
During the company's 1995 fiscal year, which ended Nov. 30, Bassett consolidated operations for its Impact bedroom and occasional furniture division, closing a plant in Icard, N.C., and moving all production to Hickory, N.C. The company also closed its Ramseur, N.C., plant, part of the Weiman division, which made upholstered and occasional furniture. Spilman said the company plans to expand its Christiansburg Weiman plant and its Dublin, Ga., case goods factory.
Thomas Moss of Norfolk, speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and senior partner of the law firm Thomas W. Moss Jr. PC, was elected to the company's 11-member board of directors. Moss replaces George Lyles Jr., a director since 1983, who did not seek re-election.
Bassett reported sales of $490.8 million for 1995, compared with year-earlier sales of $510.6 million. Net income was $22.9 million, or $1.63 per share, compared with year-earlier $24.5 million, or $1.71 per share. Bassett's first-quarter 1996 earnings will be announced in March.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB